"Satou here. In the middle of my date with Zena-san, I got caught up in a riot. Before I knew it, everyone got sucked into the labyrinth created by a demon. Things have gotten pretty hectic, but I have to bring these beast-girls safely to the surface.""Centipede~?"
Tama, a little girl with cat-like ears and tail, speaks in an easygoing tone as she looks down at the area below us.
Her short white hair sways slightly, as she tilts her head.
"Centipedes are bitter and spiky, so Pochi doesn't like them nanodesu."
Pochi whispers that with her dog-like ears are flattened against her head. Her brown shoulder-length hair swings left and right as she sticks out her tongue with a pained expression.
--You've really tried eating them? You'll wreck your stomach like that.
"Perhaps it is guarding the door?"
"Yeah, you're right."
The last one to speak to me was the orangescale-kin Liza.
Her ragged two-piece outfit reveals her athletic body and her lizard-like tail clad in orange scales.
These three beast-girls are my allies in escaping the labyrinth.
When we first got here, they could do nothing but shiver in fear. However, they started showing rapid growth after that last rest. They even managed to take down a giant frog without me.
As for our current position--
After the frog room, we continued onward through several small rooms. Before us is a room shaped like a distorted cylinder, with a height of 6 meters and a radius of about 20 meters.
The passage we entered from is at a height about halfway between the ceiling and the bottom of the room, with a slope that leads down to the floor. In the back of the room is a dark grey door with a huge centipede waiting silently in front of it.
It has three large horns that look like reversed shovel blades.
"Master, should we find a different route?"
"No, let's break through. It's dangerous, so you three stand back."
The centipede's level is 27, and it even has the [Poison] and [Launch] racial skills, so it would be impossible for them to fight it.
On top of that, it has [Resist Fire], so I can't even try out the fire bombs I made.
"...U-understood. I wish you luck."
Liza nods sadly, and sends me off with a prayer.
I'm glad that you're worried about me, but you don't need to make such a big deal out of it.
I descend the slope with my magic gun in hand. About halfway down, the centipede senses my presence and turns its head.
I was hoping he wouldn't notice me yet, but whatever. I jump further down the slope while dodging its tackle.
"Master!"
I wave my hand to the worried Liza to show that I'm fine as I fire the magic gun at the centipede's unprotected lower jaw.
That blew off a large chunk of its head, but it still seems ready for a fight.
It stares at me with its cold eyes while threatening me with a snake-like hissing sound.
I backstep to avoid the dripping green blood, but--
"Behind~?"
"Watch out nanodesu!"
The centipede's tail suddenly swings toward me.
Those glowing spikes on it probably inflict poison.
I jump into the air to avoid the tail.
The moment I dodged it, the spikes launched out towards me. I bend my body in mid-air to dodge while shooting down the remaining spikes with the magic gun.
"Eei!"
"Take this nanodesu!"
Tama and Pochi start throwing rocks at the centipede's head to try and protect me.
"Direct hit~?"
"We did it nanodesu!"
The pair's rocks managed to hit the centipede right in its half-destroyed head.
Getting hit after losing its shell must have hurt quite a bit, since the centipede changes direction towards those two.
"Wa! It's coming nanodesu."
"Run~"
"Hurry back into the passage you two."
I can't see them from here, but I can hear their frantic voices.
I force my hand into one of the centipede's joints and start pulling it back.
It looks like I used too much force. The joint got ripped out along with the surrounding shell, but at least I managed to stop its attack on the beast-girls.
One of its horns pierced into the bag that I had left with them, but we can just replace that.
Immediately afterwards, the centipede turns its head and dives towards me, but I smash it with a kick to finish it off.
◆
"Master, I will wash your back."
"Thanks, can you check if there are any injuries too?"
I ended up covered in centipede blood, so I filled a basin with water in order to wash my hair and body.
Liza gently wipes the areas I can't reach with a moist towel.
"Not a scratch, your back is completely clean."
"Silky~?"
"As smooth as a baby nanodesu."
Pochi and Tama seem to want to mimic Liza, as they start wiping my back with their hands.
"That tickles a bit."
I twist my body as I get tickled by their small hands.
"Tickle tickle~"
"Pochi won't lose nanodesu!"
"Hahaha, I give, I give."
I surrender to them with a smile on my face. This brings back memories of when I bathed with my young cousins back in my hometown.
"Tama wins~?"
"Pochi wins too nanodesu."
"If you two aren't going to help, go gather the core from the centipede."
Liza starts scolding them.
These three are different races, but they have the aura of a reliable older sister and her two innocent little sisters.
"Where is the centipede's core nanodesu?"
"I've unfortunately never seen a centipede monster before, so I am unsure of the location. If it's like the other bug monsters, it should be in the head or the upper neck. The tail and the fangs might have poison, so be careful."
"Aye aye~"
"Got it nanodesu."
Tama and Pochi run off to the centipede's body joyfully, as if they were looking for hidden treasure.
"Master, I'm done wiping."
"Thanks."
As I give my thanks to Liza, I put on an outfit that I had secretly pulled from Storage.
I stuffed the robe I had been wearing into a random bag, and then transferred it to the dirty laundry folder.
"Master, the robe's fabric will get damaged if we don't wash the centipede's fluids off immediately."
Liza reaches her hand out to the bag with a troubled look on her face.
I was thinking of just dumping the blood-covered clothes, but I guess cloth in this world is too valuable to just throw away that easily.
From the inside of the bag, I take the dirtied robe out of Storage and hand it over to Liza.
She rinses the robe in the water basin from before, and then starts cleaning it with a bundle of straw and some sort of white dust.
Now that I think about it, Liza is caring as well as brave.
Whoever marries her will be a happy man.
◆
"Uh oh~"
"Uh oh nanodesu."
Tama and Pochi stare into the bag with troubled looks.
The beast-girls seemed hungry after gathering the core, so we took a lunch break at a corner of the room. But it seems like something unexpected happened.
Liza, who was preparing the fire, looks at the two worriedly.
"What's wrong?"
"Hole~?"
"There's a hole in the frying pan nanodesu."
The frying pan that Pochi took out of the bag has a gaping hole in it.
If I remember correctly, we were able to cook meat with it during the last break.
"Centipede did it~?"
"The centipede broke it nanodesu."
I see, so it must have broke when the centipede's horn pierced the bag it was in.
"There's nothing we can do if it's broken. We'll have jerky and cheese for now, and save the cooked meat for another day."
"Aye."
"OK nanodesu."
These two seem slightly dejected after hearing Liza's statement.
They must have really enjoyed the meat we had during the previous break.
I look around the room for anything that might be able to help, and my eyes land on something.
"Liza, can we use that?"
"--That?"
Liza has her eyes wide open. I smile at her as I pick up a piece of centipede shell that fell off during the fight.
This stuff is as hard as metal and should be able to withstand a normal flame because of [Resist Fire].
◆
The sound of burning firewood echoes across the room. The smell of the oil being heated on top of the shell fills the air.
Just like I thought, it ended up being a great frying pan replacement.
"Mmm~, smells good~?"
"Ahhh, I can't wait for the next one nanodesu."
"Wait just a little longer."
Liza is cooking meat on top of the shell, while the nearby Tama and Pochi are staring.
Tama is waving her arms impatiently, and Pochi is waving her arms as well as her tail.
"It's ready, you two bring your plates."
"Aye!"
"OK! nanodesu."
Upon hearing Liza's words, the two immediately stick out their plates.
A giant steak, still steaming hot, is served to both of them.
At nearly 3 cm thick, this looks like it could be the special at a family restaurant's steak fair.
Ten-year old children like Tama and Pochi shouldn't even be able to finish something that big, but this is already their third one.
"Eat up while it's still hot."
At Liza's prompt, the two open their mouths wide open and take a huge bite.
They hold the steak in place with their forks as they begin gorging themselves on the meat.
If this was modern Japan, that appetite would be on the level of competitive eaters.
"Master, are you sure you don't want another steak?"
"Nah, I was full after the first one. You three can have the rest."
As Liza starts to cook another steak for herself, she also offers to make one for me. However, I decline.
These steaks taste as good as they smell and I still have some appetite left, but I ultimately decided against it.
After all, no matter how delicious, giant frog meat is still just a little-- well, you know.
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